Only Teej would do such a thing (and write several pages of text to do so). I was only pointing out that the bible doesn't endorse or encourage such activity. Solomon was not a regular person, he was a king and lived like one, he had 700 hundred wives and 300 hundred concubines. I don't even want to know what was going on there, there could have been a few books and movies about that.

Alan

LOL

I would NOT suck the humor out of a BJ...and, love the interplay of the language used BTW.

The bible has a lot of stuff happen in it. It describes how to be a slave, and, why you should be a loyal slave, etc.

Not everything IN the bible is condoned by being in it though.

Merely mentioning something doesn't mean that condones it.

Mentioning it in a positive light does condone it though. So, to be fair, just because the bible mentions stoning children to death doesn't mean it condones it. Mentioning that you should do it though, is certainly condoning it.

And so forth...there ARE fair contexts, and, there are unfair contexts. The bible has plenty of both to go around.

Some "conflicts" are not REALLY in conflict per se...much as some common sayings.

For example:

"Look Before you Leap", seems to contradict "He who hesitates is Lost".

The reality is that both CAN be true, just not at the same time.

So, overall, you can say, combined, sometimes you should think before you act, and, sometimes you should not.

It covers all the bases that way, and, is always true...in that you should not hesitate, except for when you should.

The bible contains similar "lessons", which are, coincidentally, all popular bronze age homilies. (No new wisdom was added, beyond what bronze age and prior men already had...no new stories, no new ideas)

So, Solomon was presented as one of the wisest men in the bible...."The Wisdom of Solomon" was a popular meme if you will.

That implies he was a role model, at least as far as how to think was concerned. He was not presented as perfect in other ways.

"Its good to be the king" has, historically, been reasonably true other than the Damoclein pressures, etc.

So, if God is scolding that not enough babies were murdered....it implies he wanted more babies murdered.

If Jesus says you must give up/kill your family for him, its a safe bet that that's his family values position, etc.

Cannabis Church Gains Legal Recognition as a Religion, Using Marijuana as Their Sacrament

Quote:

The Supreme Court has long ruled that certain prohibited drugs can be used in religious contexts. Now, one church has gained legal recognition for their right to use marijuana for religious purposes.

The Brazilian-founded religious group, União do Vegetal uses Ayahuasca Vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) and Chacruna Shrub (Psychotria viridis) in what they call a program of spiritual evolution based on mental concentration and the search for self-knowledge. The word “Ayahuasca”, translates to “vine of the souls”. The plant is completely illegal in the United States, but the Supreme Court not only ruled that the UDV can use the substance for religious purposes, they can even legally import it from Brazil.

Similar ruling have been established for the use of peyote in Native American churches.

Now, in Indianapolis, Indiana, following the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law that became controversial for its apparent intention in suppressing LGBT rights, The First Church of Cannabis become a legitimate establishment and has successfully argued for its legal right to use cannabis in religious ceremonies. Talk about “unintended consequences.”

The politicians who passed the RFRA never actually wanted to recognize the right to use banned substances for religions. They basically wanted to legalize the practice of mostly Christian businesses to prohibit service from homo***uals.

But Bill Levin, the minister and self-described “Grand Pooba” of the cannabis church, saw a gaping loophole that he quickly filed paperwork through, legitimizing his church and congregation legally.

The First Church of Cannabis Inc. was approved the very day the RFRA was signed into law.

Now, using GoFundMe as a crowdfunding method of backing the building of physical place of worship for the congregation, the group has raised over $15,000 in just two months, making the minimum donation $4.20.

They say they want to build their church out of environmentally-friendly “hempcrete,” a material like concrete that has hemp infused fibers mixed in.

Some of the Ten Commandments established by the church include: “Don’t be an asshole,” and “Do not be a ‘troll’ on the Internet,” as well as “Cannabis is our sacrament.”

Levin says his church “promotes love, equality, compassion and a prosperous way of life.”

“We are celebrating life, love, community involvement, and we are doing all the things that churches are supposed to do,” Levin told MSNBC reporters in an interview, shortly after the church was established. “Because we embrace the cannabis plant as our sacrament doesn’t mean we`re sad people.”

The church has also just gained 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service, which explains it adheres to the characteristics of any other church.

“Somebody at the IRS loves us because we got it back in less than 30 days,” Levin explained on the Church’s Facebook page.

Hmmm, so, if there is one single belief and everyone's on the same team...

...why is there a battle again?

There wouldn't be, it's getting there that would be a battle. It will take a very intelligent and charismatic world leader to bring this about "He will have a mouth speaking great things".

Christianity and Islam believe this person will be the antichrist and are waiting for him to arrive, except for the Christians that believe in a pre tribulation rapture who think they won't be here. While the Jews are still waiting for their messiah. Even Nostradamus predicted this guy but in a different way and called him Mabus.

Islam however does teach that there should be a caliphate one government over all of them, but they do believe in an equivalent of the Christian antichrist, they call him the dajjal.

My point is Christians and Muslims will not easily accept a one world government and economic system and certainly not a world religion.

What if the reality is that none of us, not one of us needs to be saved, that religion is merely a concept created by men, that the universe promotes the continued good of all anyway, even the most evil of mankind? That there is no hell or punishment for the wicked except for what we make for ourselves by becoming unloving and unaccepting of one another, that when life ends we find there was no end, that we existed before becoming enmeshed in the flesh of a human body, that the reality is we are all spiritual beings having a human experience and when crossing over or back to our primary state, we remember who we really are and why we wanted to be human for awhile. Would such violate your human sense of right or wrong? If it does that's because of being human, we can't remember the before or see into the after, but we are very good at believing anything we choose to believe to live in our own kind of world here, as we choose it to be in our individual minds. It's an interesting diverse reality we find ourselves in, able to see things any way we want and fight to the end to have the right to do so, which of course we each do, each choosing their own realities.

I think I was dropped as a baby to think this way, have a crack where some of these ideas slip through from time to time

Sincerely investigate any of these three short quotes as new concepts and you've taken your first step into a larger world:

"I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness..." - Max Planck. "Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real" - Neils Bohr. "What we call physical things and events do not exist independently of subjective experience..." - Deepak Chopra.

Each of these three rabbit holes go deep, ending up in the same place.

What if the reality is that none of us, not one of us needs to be saved,

that religion is merely a concept created by men,

that the universe promotes the continued good of all anyway, even the most evil of mankind?

That there is no hell or punishment for the wicked except for what we make for ourselves by becoming unloving and unaccepting of one another, that when life ends we find there was no end, that we existed before becoming enmeshed in the flesh of a human body, that the reality is we are all spiritual beings having a human experience and when crossing over or back to our primary state, we remember who we really are and why we wanted to be human for awhile. Would such violate your human sense of right or wrong? If it does that's because of being human, we can't remember the before or see into the after, but we are very good at believing anything we choose to believe to live in our own kind of world here, as we choose it to be in our individual minds. It's an interesting diverse reality we find ourselves in, able to see things any way we want and fight to the end to have the right to do so, which of course we each do, each choosing their own realities.

I think I was dropped as a baby to think this way, have a crack where some of these ideas slip through from time to time

It sounds like you are on the brink of crossing over from superstition to reason.

Drop the empty space that everything occurs in, having motives, recognize it as space, drop the life after death, and, you'll be there.

Life after death is the hardest thing for people to let go of. Lets face it, its less scary to think you don't have an end...so, people CHOOSE to believe it as its more comforting.

That doesn't make it so, but, for those afraid of ending, it helps them get through their day.

----------------------

Consciousness -

Many believe that we have a consciousness that transcends our biological life.

The problem is that studies of the brain show that selective destruction of parts of the brain destroys specific parts of our consciousness. Self awareness, memories, sight, hearing, touch, balance, reasoning, types of thought processes, and so forth.

So, your brain is YOU essentially. Your personality, the way you think, your sense of humor, etc, is dictated by your brain.

When you die, the lack of oxygen destroys your brain, all of it....the parts that process the world, the parts that remember your experiences and who your children are, etc.

There is no reason to believe that destroying the ENTIRE brain will not have effects analogous the destruction of its parts...and that therefore, YOU will simply no longer exist when your brain no longer exists.

As the comforting IDEA that, somehow, all the things your brain did will still work when you have no brain...so your spirit or soul or consciousness, etc...somehow will continue to exist, independently, is so hard to let go of, because it means you're REALLY DEAD...people stubbornly insist it MUST BE SO!

They do that because the horror of THEM not being around anymore is more than they can bear. Alcoholics and heroin addicts will rationalize why they need alcohol or heroin, etc...even though a deep, hidden and repressed part of their logic KNOWS its bad for them. The conscious part will simply say "I need this, I can't go through life w/o it"

They are, of course, wrong...but tend not to admit it and simply say "Why yes, you are right, this IS bad for me,and I shall simply decide to not use it anymore, thank you for the great advice!"

They instead hear you say something along the lines of what we hear adults say in Charlie Brown TV cartoons....but it penetrates no further than that...because they filter out anything scary or stressful.

The addiction blinds them to reason...because the idea of NOT having that crutch to get though life terrifies them....so entreaties and reasoning about why they are wrong is shuttled quickly to the equivalent of junk mail/spam by their filtering system that only allows in comforting ideas that allow the addiction to continue.

This is WHY people can be extremely intelligent, and able to use logic and reason in any OTHER area of their life...but, can still be a heroin addict or alcoholic or theist.

Life after death is the hardest thing for people to let go of. Lets face it, its less scary to think you don't have an end...so, people CHOOSE to believe it as its more comforting.

I can be happy with or without life after death, that's not it for me, for me it's the amount of evidence which supports this as the reality, that consciousness is primary in the universe, the physical secondary. I can lead you down a path to help show all of this but it would take a lot of my time and energy. That, and for someone who prefers their world view as it is, it's useless to do so, there is never enough evidence for someone with their mind made up to the contrary to be able to change it. Besides, I don't believe it matters what someone does or does not believe in regard to any of this, the important things in life we need are happening with or without such beliefs, all is well in that regard, one way or another life unfolds properly for each of us, regardless of a belief in God, belief in life after death or not. Accepting or denying just doesn't matter in the long run, life goes on. The best advice I can give regarding these matters is to know thyself.

I find some of this interesting, but I don't want to debate the strong or weak points, it won't make any difference for me anyway and anyone who wants to attack it won't learn anything from it either. Take some time and watch this with an open mind, don't worry, I've never known anyone to have their brains fall out by keeping an open mind:

For those who are steadfastly centered in science being the end all answer to what is real, or isn't, the sad reality is our science has not progressed enough to get anywhere close at proving spiritual realities, except perhaps quantum physics, but there are camps on both side of the fence regarding that too. If you are unwilling to accept that our mainstream science has not progressed far enough to prove out a spiritual reality, sorry, but that's why it is unable to do so.

Sincerely investigate any of these three short quotes as new concepts and you've taken your first step into a larger world:

"I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness..." - Max Planck. "Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real" - Neils Bohr. "What we call physical things and events do not exist independently of subjective experience..." - Deepak Chopra.

Each of these three rabbit holes go deep, ending up in the same place.

To all who like to carry on this discussion, I'd like to post an excerpt from the book of John chapter 10.

24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

The followers of Christ try to show everyone what we have, but we can't unless God wants the others to know him. God chooses his "sheep" and nothing we say can change that. To the non-believers, please don't badger those who do choose to believe. I don't pressure anyone to believe but if I am to truly believe the word of God then I should tell people about Him and spread his word. It's up to them to choose to believe.

To all who like to carry on this discussion, I'd like to post an excerpt from the book of John chapter 10.

24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

The followers of Christ try to show everyone what we have, but we can't unless God wants the others to know him. God chooses his "sheep" and nothing we say can change that. To the non-believers, please don't badger those who do choose to believe. I don't pressure anyone to believe but if I am to truly believe the word of God then I should tell people about Him and spread his word. It's up to them to choose to believe.

There's no "badgering" going on, its the subject of this section of the forum.

If someone can't bear to see posts that disagree with their world view, lets say that their world view involves there NOT being a god...

..they should not read threads where people who DO believe that there's a god are posting that there IS a god, and why, and WHICH god it is, etc.

Conversely, those who can't read posts that say there ISN'T a god, and why, or why its not your own god, should not read that section of the forum either.

Especially if they DO read it, and feel "badgered" when they see dissenting view points.